Multilingual Supports for AT, AEM, & UDL
PATINS Specialist
Amanda has 25+ years in education, working in Indiana, Madrid, Spain, and Mexico City, Mexico. Over the course of ten years in Mexico City, she gained Spanish linguistic skills and deeper cultural awareness. She has worked with students and families who were multilingual and multicultural in K-12 international school settings, urban/rural settings, and online courses. Amanda has worked with the Indiana transition cadre and individual students with Specific Learning Disabilities. She has a M.Ed., is a Google Certified Educator, and has extensive experience in serving as an instructional leader for education programs, professional development, and training and curriculum development for other educators.
Specialty Areas:
- Multilingual Supports for Assistive Technology (AT), Accessible Educational Materials (AEM), and Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
- Specific Learning Disability (SLD)
- Transition
Contact:
Phone: 317-721-1152
Resources
About Multilingual/English Language Learners in Indiana
According to Migration Policy Institute (based on 2019 U.S. Census data), in the state of Indiana 6.6% of K-12 students are Multilingual/English Language Learners (ELL). English Language Learners often struggle with expressing understanding and knowledge that they possess. They might not have parents who speak English at home to help them with English language development. ELLs often have difficulty connecting to English-speaking peers which can impede language and other developmental skills, including self-esteem. That same low self-esteem then impacts oral proficiency therefore impacting language development. (Mandokhail, Khan, & Malghani 219)
Multilingual/ELL students need advocates and educators supporting academic growth through Universal Design for Learning (UDL) strategies, Assistive Technology, and Accessible Educational Materials.
Accommodations and Assistive Technology for Multiingual/English Learners
Empower ELLs through translations options (for both students and to communicate with families), text-to-speech, word prediction, pre-teaching, choice boards, sound walls, visual aids, rewording,word banks, graphic organizers, extra time for assignments and processing (thinking time),explicitly teaching vocabulary prior to the lesson, sentences frames, structures/templates, partner or group pairing and most importantly seeing their value in the classroom.
Training
All of the trainings below can be requested by emailing me at any time. You can find additional training sessions provided by the PATINS team on our Professional Development Guide.
ELLevating All: Overlapping Strategies for ELLs and students with SLD (including dyslexia)
This session will provide resources and tools for English Language Learners (ELLs) and/or students with Specific Learning Difference (SLD), including dyslexia. This is an overview of overlapping strategies for promoting literacy for ELLs and students with SLD with a focus on how Universal Design for Learning(UDL) to eliminate barriers for ELLs/students with SLD and all students. Participants will be able to categorize possible action under the VICS checklist.
They will be able to apply various tools: low/high tech and strategies for a UDL plan for students with SLD and ELLs.
Multilingual Supports in Every Classroom: A UDL Approach
In this session we will focus on: 1) Identifying multilingual students beyond the home language survey, 2) Understanding basics of proficiency data provided by WIDA, 3) creating a collaborative space for data in Gsuites/Microsoft365, 4) utilizing tools for collaborative tracking, monitoring and goal setting.The workshop will include creation of a monitoring tracker based on WIDA Can Do Descriptors. 5)Connecting WIDA to accomodations on ILP (including the difference between differentiation and accommodation and when to utilize which) and 5) strategies for supporting multilingual students using technology that supports accomodations on ILP. Participants will leave session with a basic system to data collection, monitor tracker, goal setting strategies for students and educators, accommodation alignment based on WIDA scores, and list of technology available to support accommodations on an ILP.
Participants will leave with ideas for creating a monitoring system for collaboration, shared tracking system, and student involvement to generate shared goals using WIDA charts. Explore technologies supporting accommodations. Leave session with monitoring trackers and ideas connecting goals and accommodations. Join us to learn how to set up a collaborative system to support multilingual students.
3-Part Series: UDL Planning for Language Differences (including Multilingual and DHH) with Amanda Crecelius and Katie Taylor
Upcoming Statewide Trainings
